Ideology and the Virtual City is an exploration of modern society and the critical value of popular culture. It combines a prescient social theory that describes how ‘neoliberal’ ideology in today’s societies dominates our economic, political and cultural ideals, with an entertaining exploration of narratives, characters and play structures in some of today’s most interesting videogames. The book takes readers into a range of simulated urban environments that symbolise the hidden antagonisms of social life and create outlandish resolutions through their power fantasies. Interactive entertainment can help us understand the ways in which people relate to a modern ‘common sense’ neoliberal background, in terms of absorbing assumptions, and questioning them.

Jon Bailes is a researcher and author who writes extensively about ideology, neoliberalism and popular culture. He has a PhD in European Studies from University college London, has published numerous academic journal articles, and co-runs stateofnatureblog.com, a website featuring interviews with social and political theorists. He is also a freelance videogames critic, writing reviews and commentaries for The Guardian, Edge, Kotaku UK, Unwinnable, Wireframe and others.

Paperback, published in 2019, 93 pages.

“An unsurpassable instroduction into the deaadlocks of our real life. In short, an instant classic for everyone who wants to understand not just games but our reality itself.”(Slavoj Zizek)